Is any of the technology in stargate possible?

[Tj11291982]

No, I meant intergalactic. Its just a matter of a lasting power source, viable cryogenics, navigation system which im sure we already have capable, and durable drives to travel the distance at any speed. Of coarse FTL or Hyperdrive would be great. Interstellar travel is a very real possibility, maybe even now. That is just traveling between stars in our own galaxy. Intergalactic is traveling to other galaxies. The only difference is distance.

[Anja]

The fact of the matter is, none of us actually know what actual technologies we already have, or even if Stargate was based off a real operation for deniability. There is no doubt in my mind that we are not alone in the universe nor that aliens have been to earth. THere are to many earth like worlds in the cosmos not to support life, further advanced life. That is what Stargate is all about, to show us the possibilities of what is or could be.

Sorry, but IMO that's not what Stargate is all about. Stargate is entertainment, adventure, interaction and sci-fi, I think the possibilities we can imagine ourselves. It's not that simple.

[thekillman]

The fact of the matter is, none of us actually know what actual technologies we already have,

Well since competition is a thing that exists, it's sort-of true. Not on the scale you suggest, but its sort of true

There is no doubt in my mind that we are not alone in the universe

To me the question of whether we're alone is a stupid one. Of course we aren't, it's statistically ludicrous to assume.

A much better question is, will it matter? Anything more than a few dozen to maybe a few hundred lightyears out would be impractical to communicate with (we'd only now get answers to questions we asked in the Dark Ages, or earlier. Imagine that. "hey guys here are those nuclear reactor schematics you desired. Oh and don't make nukes out of them, bad idea" and then there's this lonely maniac in his basement hearing this message after the nuclear apocalypse.

Sorry, but IMO that's not what Stargate is all about. Stargate is entertainment, adventure, interaction and sci-fi, I think the possibilities we can imagine ourselves. It's not that simple.

Mostly it's about people doing the best they can with limited resources. There's a clever balance between dark and humorous, fantasy and reality.

[Tj11291982]

Well said Killman.

[thekillman]

Well said Killman.

It's a small annoyance of mine that occasionally we're too busy discussing whether something is even true, that we forget to discuss to what extent it would matter.

[Tj11291982]

In this case, if we had all the technology of the stargate program, it would matter a great deal. that is for the ones who knew about it. The ones who dont will just go on living their normal lives none the wiser.

[aretood2]

A much better question is, will it matter? Anything more than a few dozen to maybe a few hundred lightyears out would be impractical to communicate with (we'd only now get answers to questions we asked in the Dark Ages, or earlier. Imagine that. "hey guys here are those nuclear reactor schematics you desired. Oh and don't make nukes out of them, bad idea" and then there's this lonely maniac in his basement hearing this message after the nuclear apocalypse.

Well, then there's the Fermi Paradox but then that would just mean that intelligent life is either way too exotic or extremely rare that few ever exist per galaxy. Or both.

[thekillman]

In this case, if we had all the technology of the stargate program, it would matter a great deal. that is for the ones who knew about it. The ones who dont will just go on living their normal lives none the wiser.

But we don't. If we can discover civilizations within a short enough reach it would be a huge discovery, but if the galaxy is pretty barren then it would be pretty irrelevant until maybe in a few milllenia

Well, then there's the Fermi Paradox but then that would just mean that intelligent life is either way too exotic or extremely rare that few ever exist per galaxy. Or both.

It's not really a Paradox in the traditional sense because we simply don't know enough for a meaningful answer.

Proposed answers aren't really nice (i haven't seen any explanation that filled me with hope, more like existential dread). It ranges from the idea of Great Filters to Game Theory. In short, either we survived or have yet to survive a Great Filter that may end our civilization (the Cold War may have been one) and has ended countless other civilizations.

The Game Theory alternative is even darker. Essentially, there's no way of knowing if another civilization may be a threat or not. So, if either side has civilization-ending weapons, it's safer to fire than to not fire. If both fire, then both get destroyed and it's a tie. If you fire but the other doesn't, you're safe and the potential threat is gone. If you don't fire, but the enemy does, you're destroyed. If you both don't fire, you'll live but the situation will repeat itself since circumstances can change. So if you fire, you either win and tie. If you don't, you lose or tie. Therefore, it's better to fire.

The conclusion from Game Theory is that it's better to hide than to reveal yourself, as there may be more paranoid civilizations who definitely believe that firing is better than not-firing. And unlike a gargantuan interstellar generational ship, stuff like nukes (or just relativistic bullets) are far easier to produce and fire. Any civilization crossing this threshold is a threat to any other civilization in possibly a hundred or more lightyear radius. Such Relativistic Kill Vehicles are essentially undetectable (you would need pretty powerful telescopes aimed in exactly the right direction to maybe detect their firing) and since they move close to the speed of light, if you see them then they're also already there.

Either scenario is extremely bad.

[aretood2]

I wonder what star trek would look like if Roddenberry took that into account...

[thekillman]

I wonder what star trek would look like if Roddenberry took that into account...

The Forever War, basically.

[Anja]

If we consider all the species on Earth living side by side (including the strong and the weak) why can't we imagine a peaceful scenario if there is an alien encounter?
Would it be that impossible?
Well, it's in us to shoot first and ask questions later - but what if the others are different?
I'm afraid even if the others come, we'll never find out - would be no chance.
I'm glad that Mr Roddenberry saw it the way he did.

[thekillman]

If we consider all the species on Earth living side by side (including the strong and the weak) why can't we imagine a peaceful scenario if there is an alien encounter?

We can. It's just that if we expect a peaceful encounter, there's no risk, but if it turns sour, we're doomed. So it's better to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. The hope is that if a species develops sufficiently advanced technology, it'll automatically outgrow things like war (since we're already nearing a post-scarcity civilization and scarcity is a major cause of war)

The entire idea of Star trek was that civilization had moved beyond our differences.

[Camden McAndrews]

I'll chime in with my first post on the GateWorld forum: Perhaps the most important thing I learned from 40 years as an aerospace engineer is that the universe is under no obligation to pay any attention to our attempts to model its behavior.

I'll hold with those who say that things like faster than light space travel doesn't seem to be likely any time soon, but nobody really knows if it's impossible. To develop it deliberately, we would need another revolution in physics at a time that, although we can come up with math models that work well for our current purposes, we have no idea at all what makes the fundamental forces of Nature work.

My guess, and it's only a guess, is that if folks keep flailing about with experiments in subatomic particles and gravity waves and nifty stuff like that, eventually someone will notice a serendipitous discovery that will lead to the invention of the star drive, or star gate, or space warper, or significantly improved cheese grater. And while all will gaze in awe and wonder at this new marvel, no one will have the foggiest notion of how or why it really works.

Despite that, it'll be a heck of a lot of fun!

[thekillman]

I'll chime in with my first post on the GateWorld forum: Perhaps the most important thing I learned from 40 years as an aerospace engineer is that the universe is under no obligation to pay any attention to our attempts to model its behavior.

Hello there and good to meet a fellow engineer.

[Tyrathraxus]

Im reminded of Stargate's first season and a particular when people ask about our technology:

Bra’tac: Perhaps when the warships of your world attack, we may be able—
Carter: Ah ah ah. Excuse me. Did you say, “ships of our world”?
Bra’tac: Surely you have such vessels.
Jackson: Well, we have a number of… shuttles.
O’Neill: Shuttles.
Bra’tac: These “shuttles”, they are a formidable craft?
O’Neill: Oh, yeah. Yeah. {to himself} Bad day.

That to me sums up technology in terms of what we can do. Our 'best' space vehicle was a .. shuttle designed to ferry things into space. It wasn't armed in the slightest.